What would the Lightbound *Have to do* to be a real threat?

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I put asterisks around *Have to do* to ask the question of what exactly would the Lightbound (the AU Draenor version of the Army of the Light) in order to be a credible threat?


Some may think they are already a credible threat on their own. If they ever got to MU Azeroth they would be a bigger threat than the Iron Horde presented. On their own, I do not think this is true.


Since WoD we've taken on the Burning Legion directly and won. We've faced down an unleashed Old Gold and won. We went into the afterlife and defeated enemies of cosmic proportions... and won.


Perhaps dealing with the Lightbound would be a cake walk... but in your opinion what would the Lightbound have to accomplish to be established as a force to be reckoned with?


For me, something like making "a statement of power" would make me take notice. Before Shadowlands was announced/released... I always felt like if the Lightbound got to MU Azeroth they should eradicate Icecrown of all life... and unlife. Completely wiping out the Scourge presence there with whatever massive interdimensional spaceship firepower they have.

Arrive, eradicate, refuse to elaborate, leave.


Or, if the Battle for Lordaeron did not happen (and the subsequent blight bombing)... they appeared and wiped the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Undercity, and all of Tirisifal Glades off the face of Azeroth. I could imagine them showing up on Azeroth and just being gobsmacked by sheer amount of undead filth present.

[Rhlor]

I put asterisks around *Have to do* to ask the question of what exactly would the Lightbound (the AU Draenor version of the Army of the Light) in order to be a credible threat?


Some may think they are already a credible threat on their own. If they ever got to MU Azeroth they would be a bigger threat than the Iron Horde presented. On their own, I do not think this is true.


Since WoD we've taken on the Burning Legion directly and won. We've faced down an unleashed Old Gold and won. We went into the afterlife and defeated enemies of cosmic proportions... and won.


Perhaps dealing with the Lightbound would be a cake walk... but in your opinion what would the Lightbound have to accomplish to be established as a force to be reckoned with?


For me, something like making "a statement of power" would make me take notice. Before Shadowlands was announced/released... I always felt like if the Lightbound got to MU Azeroth they should eradicate Icecrown of all life... and unlife. Completely wiping out the Scourge presence there with whatever massive interdimensional spaceship firepower they have.

Arrive, eradicate, refuse to elaborate, leave.


Or, if the Battle for Lordaeron did not happen (and the subsequent blight bombing)... they appeared and wiped the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Undercity, and all of Tirisifal Glades off the face of Azeroth. I could imagine them showing up on Azeroth and just being gobsmacked by sheer amount of undead filth present.

an important part of the population of azeroth will voluntarily join the lightbound, faith in the light is very important

[SinR]

How would the Lightbound react to Forsaken Priests though?

Or the Undead Scarlet Crusaders in EPL?

They're *technically* dead but they still channel and call upon The Light

[KOUNTERPARTS]

an important part of the population of azeroth will voluntarily join the lightbound, faith in the light is very important

Would probably be worse for us if all the crazy, over-zealous Holy Light fanatics had a banner to rally under. That banner being more powerful (and able to actually get things done) than the Scarlet Crusade, that is. Would probably make the Lightbound even stronger.

- - - Updated - - -

How would the Lightbound react to Forsaken Priests though?

Or the Undead Scarlet Crusaders in EPL?

They're *technically* dead but they still channel and call upon The Light

Not really sure, but I'd have to imagine not kindly? We don't have a lot of information fleshed out so I kind of just assume they are as fanatical as the Scarlet Crusade was.


Perhaps a "with us or against us" mentality with Holy Light-users/followers. Or "with us or you die" mentality.

[haiyken]

I don't really see why the Lightbound would have a fixation on undeath, really... Using the Light to fight the Undead is really Azeroth-centric and mainly tied to Azeroth more "recent" history related to Arthas/the Lich king. Before that, the Light was more or less weaponized through Paladins during the Second War to fight Orcs and their Warlocks/Death Knights.

Why would the Lightbound travel to another dimension just for hunting down the undead? It's safe to say that Yrel would be their High Exarch, and I don't see why she would decide that based on her history and personal motivations so far in the story. The Light has been mainly opposed to the Void or the Fel in the cosmological war. The Light only attacked Revendreth as retaliation for something, and it's the only time they acted against Death. If the Light was so opposed to Death, it would have fought against the Jailer a lot more.

[loras]

I put asterisks around *Have to do* to ask the question of what exactly would the Lightbound (the AU Draenor version of the Army of the Light) in order to be a credible threat?


Some may think they are already a credible threat on their own. If they ever got to MU Azeroth they would be a bigger threat than the Iron Horde presented. On their own, I do not think this is true.


Since WoD we've taken on the Burning Legion directly and won. We've faced down an unleashed Old Gold and won. We went into the afterlife and defeated enemies of cosmic proportions... and won.


Perhaps dealing with the Lightbound would be a cake walk... but in your opinion what would the Lightbound have to accomplish to be established as a force to be reckoned with?


For me, something like making "a statement of power" would make me take notice. Before Shadowlands was announced/released... I always felt like if the Lightbound got to MU Azeroth they should eradicate Icecrown of all life... and unlife. Completely wiping out the Scourge presence there with whatever massive interdimensional spaceship firepower they have.

Arrive, eradicate, refuse to elaborate, leave.


Or, if the Battle for Lordaeron did not happen (and the subsequent blight bombing)... they appeared and wiped the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Undercity, and all of Tirisifal Glades off the face of Azeroth. I could imagine them showing up on Azeroth and just being gobsmacked by sheer amount of undead filth present.

The idea that we need to continue the absurd comic book level power escalation is just plain wrong, and will only lead to yet worse writing in the future.

Also it is notable that N'zoth feared Deathwing's power, and thus made him even madder so as to benefit himself and rid himself of a dangerous pawn.
(In case an illustration was needed that WoW has not, in fact, always revolved around power escalation).

[Maxilian]

Well I would prefer if they come and are not automatically seem as the bad guy, have a lot of people (mainly from the Alliance) join the LB, and even have the Scarlet Crusade remnants join them, then have them hunt the Scourge, and slowly push it into other races, initially just attacking those factions or races that are not part of the Horde or the Alliance, making them seem as allies of the world (Like the Old God's minion races -Mantid, Quiraji, etc-), but then slowly but surely push it into more questionable options (All the inhabitants of the Felwoods -In the excuse that it have to be cleansed with holy flames-), then the Quilboar (they do kind of corrupt the whole area that they live in with the thorn stuff), then slowly start pushing into the races that are allied with both the Horde and the Alliance, mainly the Forsaken and the Void Elves.

This way, we don't need to have them become a "cosmic power" but more of a "moral power" where they are seem as the moral superior side even by some members of the main factions, creating division within, IMHO this should be more obvious within the Alliance than the Horde as they do have more reasons to join such faction because of their believe in the Light, while the Horde already have some reasons to distrust them with the Maghar Orcs

[Khaza-R]

I honestly don't ever see them being anything then maybe a throw away antagonist in a future dungeon for a theoretical Light-themed expansion.

But hopefully they stay away from the AU thing in its entirety.

[Derpules]

How would the Lightbound react to Forsaken Priests though?

Or the Undead Scarlet Crusaders in EPL?

The Light has accepted Lothraxxion into it's ranks, so if demons can serve the light I'd imagine undead get a pass too. (Loth being a sleeper agent of Denathrius is besides the point on this one)

[Villager720]

Since WoD we've taken on the Burning Legion directly and won. We've faced down an unleashed Old Gold and won. We went into the afterlife and defeated enemies of cosmic proportions... and won.

I think it's important to remember that we achieved all of what you noted above because we had been empowered by cosmic forces - artifact weapons, the HoA, Covenants/First One Voodoo. Once we leave the Shadowlands, we'll loose our current borrowed-power voodoo (canonically speaking) and moving into Dragonflight we won't get it replaced, thus we'd be less capable of defeating cosmic threats. I mean, our big bads we're struggling against for the first tier are protodrakes. If that's not evidence we are no longer Legion-level threat crushers, not sure what is.
Therefore, the Lightbound, in our current state, could be a very big threat if they are cosmically empowered.

(Side note: I hope they explain why the HoA doesn't work once we arrive back on Azeroth. At SLs launch, the explanation for it's lack of relevancy was that we'd left Azeroth/our plain of reality - upon our return to Azeroth, and without giving a reason why not, it should canonically still be juicing.)

- - - Updated - - -

The Light has accepted Lothraxxion into it's ranks, so if demons can serve the light I'd imagine undead get a pass too. (Loth being a sleeper agent of Denathrius is besides the point on this one)

We don't definitively know that Loth is who/what Enemy Infiltration was referencing regarding the Light. I think it's suspicious he never made an appearance in Shadowlands during the Nazthrezim's reality's long master plan coming to fruition - even when they had a naaru that needed countering.

[uuuhname]

playing through the Mag'har Orcs quest chain it's pretty obvious how they can be a threat: be the exact type of fanatical, fascistic authoritarians they clearly want to be.

[loras]

Well I would prefer if they come and are not automatically seem as the bad guy, have a lot of people (mainly from the Alliance) join the LB, and even have the Scarlet Crusade remnants join them, then have them hunt the Scourge, and slowly push it into other races, initially just attacking those factions or races that are not part of the Horde or the Alliance, making them seem as allies of the world (Like the Old God's minion races -Mantid, Quiraji, etc-), but then slowly but surely push it into more questionable options (All the inhabitants of the Felwoods -In the excuse that it have to be cleansed with holy flames-), then the Quilboar (they do kind of corrupt the whole area that they live in with the thorn stuff), then slowly start pushing into the races that are allied with both the Horde and the Alliance, mainly the Forsaken and the Void Elves.

This way, we don't need to have them become a "cosmic power" but more of a "moral power" where they are seem as the moral superior side even by some members of the main factions, creating division within, IMHO this should be more obvious within the Alliance than the Horde as they do have more reasons to join such faction because of their believe in the Light, while the Horde already have some reasons to distrust them with the Maghar Orcs

This i like.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

This way, we don't need to have them become a "cosmic power" but more of a "moral power" where they are seem as the moral superior side even by some members of the main factions, creating division within, IMHO this should be more obvious within the Alliance than the Horde as they do have more reasons to join such faction because of their believe in the Light, while the Horde already have some reasons to distrust them with the Maghar Orcs

This makes a lot of sense and personally, I feel like this angle is something that the current story has lacked.

[Magistrate]

The difference between most other threats we've faced and the lightbound is that one is that it's a religious order. The lightbound would introduce a permanent long-term cultural faction, split a cultural divide among light based believers into who sides and doesn't side with them, have an instant number of people who would willingly follow them. It would basically be the scarlet crusade all over again, but perhaps more powerful given it's direct connection to a cosmic power.

[Feanoro]

With these writers? To be a threat, they'd need to switch to the Horde, otherwise they will be kept toothless, only trotted out for the writers' thinly veiled sneering at religion.

[angrywithmygod]

Well I would prefer if they come and are not automatically seem as the bad guy, have a lot of people (mainly from the Alliance) join the LB, and even have the Scarlet Crusade remnants join them, then have them hunt the Scourge, and slowly push it into other races, initially just attacking those factions or races that are not part of the Horde or the Alliance, making them seem as allies of the world (Like the Old God's minion races -Mantid, Quiraji, etc-), but then slowly but surely push it into more questionable options (All the inhabitants of the Felwoods -In the excuse that it have to be cleansed with holy flames-), then the Quilboar (they do kind of corrupt the whole area that they live in with the thorn stuff), then slowly start pushing into the races that are allied with both the Horde and the Alliance, mainly the Forsaken and the Void Elves.

This way, we don't need to have them become a "cosmic power" but more of a "moral power" where they are seem as the moral superior side even by some members of the main factions, creating division within, IMHO this should be more obvious within the Alliance than the Horde as they do have more reasons to join such faction because of their believe in the Light, while the Horde already have some reasons to distrust them with the Maghar Orcs

I like this, however If the do decide they need an alliance character to go all Zealot I think Anduin would be a more interesting character than Tirion. Have him fall the other way to Arthas to show that parallel. He already trusts the light implicitly to make all his decisions aka "his magic bones". He has been through a number of ordeals which could lead him to become overly reliant of the Light to sooth his pains. He has a infatuation with the Draenei so he could fall for Yrel.

Tirion in retrospect has told Anduin to not blindly trust the light. Has a partner he is deeply in love with who is a void user however he has come to understand its value. He also has gone through alot but has come out the otherside more even handed and less xenophobic than people think he is. I mean hes married to an elf, lead an army of Draenei and even has a Dreadlord as a friend.

[Maxilian]

I like this, however If the do decide they need an alliance character to go all Zealot I think Anduin would be a more interesting character than Tirion. Have him fall the other way to Arthas to show that parallel. He already trusts the light implicitly to make all his decisions aka "his magic bones". He has been through a number of ordeals which could lead him to become overly reliant of the Light to sooth his pains. He has a infatuation with the Draenei so he could fall for Yrel.

Tirion in retrospect has told Anduin to not blindly trust the light. Has a partner he is deeply in love with who is a void user however he has come to understand its value. He also has gone through alot but has come out the otherside more even handed and less xenophobic than people think he is. I mean hes married to an elf, lead an army of Draenei and even has a Dreadlord as a friend.

I suppose you mean Turalyon, but yes, the Turalyon going full zealot with the light its a fun theme that people like but I don't think its makes much sense unless Alleria gets full corrupted and end up dead because of it or full blown villain like Sylvanas did by BFA, regardless I don't think that having Turalyon or anyone work with the LB Draneai needs to be zealots if the LB Draneai holds the moral high ground, it would actually make it more interesting as it would bring conflict even for the character itself, sadly the way quest are made, making such conflicts are hard, the closest we got was the whole depressed Saurfang questline.

They can just start working with the LB Draneai till they actually start questioning the more extreme actions that they start to take, creating a division internally, on those that are zealots, those that saw the shadows in the light and those that see the shadow but have "faith" that it is the right path.

[Dancaris]

Not kill any Horde major characters. We have too many loses to kill someone again for stupid reason.
Kill Alliance for once. Shaw, Anduin, Alleria, Umbrick, cleanse Church, maybe Scarlets join them and we eradicate them for good. Final time, with clear result. Make it stop already.

[Lunzenboyo]

Not kill any Horde major characters. We have too many loses to kill someone again for stupid reason.
Kill Alliance for once. Shaw, Anduin, Alleria, Umbrick, cleanse Church, maybe Scarlets join them and we eradicate them for good. Final time, with clear result. Make it stop already.

Best I can do is kill yet another Horde leader or turn them evil.

[Raxacorico]

Best I can do is kill yet another Horde leader or turn them evil.

Somehow, Lor'themar turned evil.